"We are experiencing the greatest wave of extinctions
since the disappearance of the dinosaurs. Extinction rates are rising by
a factor of up to 1,000 above natural rates. Every hour, three species disappear.
Every day, up to 150 species are lost. Every year, between 18,000 and 55,000
species become extinct. The cause: human activities." (Ahmed Djoghlaf,
head of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity)

Introduction

Most people are aware that human behavior is damaging the environment.
The purpose of this page is to show that this damage has now become dangerous
- that in many areas we are approaching the tipping point that will lead
to collapse of ecosystems. Most importantly, since humans evolved from Nature,
we thus depend upon Nature for survival, as it is the source of all our
food, air and water. If the natural systems that support life on earth collapse
then humanity is going to collapse (James Lovelock, who proposed the gaia
hypothesis, forecasts that billions of people will die).

So why is this happening? There are two obvious reasons;

i) The world is overpopulated.

ii) Our political / market economic system selects for short term profit
and over consumption.

How do we solve these problems?

Well the solution is obvious to any thoughtful mind. We must control human
population (Malthus wrote on this 200 years ago) and we must regulate corporations
to ensure they do what is good for humanity / life on earth.

Climategate: Global Warming Vs. Climate Change

I think a lot of people confuse Climate Change with Global Warming. Humans
are obviously changing the climate due to changing life on earth and adding
80,000 synthetic chemicals to the global system. Because of the complexity
of the system it is impossible to predict the changes.

However, to say that increasing CO2 by x amount will increase
global temperatures by y amount is naive and simplistic. This is why the
data was deliberately changed that has led to the 'climategate' controversy
- because the science behind it is flawed - so it does not work.
That this is the foundation for global energy policies is thus very foolish.See: http://www.assassinationscience.com/climategate/

CO2 is trivial given the massive human overpopulation, the destruction
of nature, the pollution of environment that supports life on earth. While
global warming may be true, it may also not be true - certainly most of
the effect will be due to the sun, it is hard to say what the human contribution
is.

But climate change is true - and possibly catastrophic for humanity. I
suspect we will get greater variability in climate, that nature acts as
a moderator of changes due to its complex feedback cycles.

The irony is that though the science is bad, the move to green energy is
obviously good (the carbon tax is probably not the best way to go though).

Below you will find a number of articles on the problems our environment
faces - and this is just a small sample - the tip of the iceberg. To any
reasonably minded person the reports and statistics are frightening. The
further problem is that humans are notoriously blind
to the obvious.

Geoff Haselhurst

Rapid Worldwide Depletion (90%) of Predatory Fish Communities

Ransom A. Myers and Boris Worm - Pub. in Nature Journal,
March 2003

Serious concerns have been raised about the ecological effects of industrialized
fishing, spurring a United Nations resolution on restoring fisheries and
marine ecosystems to healthy levels. However, a prerequisite for restoration
is a general understanding of the composition and abundance of unexploited
fish communities, relative to contemporary ones. We constructed trajectories
of community biomass and composition of large predatory fishes in four continental
shelf and nine oceanic systems, using all available data from the beginning
of exploitation.

Industrialized fisheries typically reduced community biomass by 80% within
15 years of exploitation. Compensatory increases in fast-growing species
were observed, but often reversed within a decade. We estimate that large
predatory fish biomass today is only about 10% of pre industrial levels.
We conclude that declines of large predators in coastal regions have extended
throughout the global ocean, with potentially serious consequences for ecosystems.

'The impact we have had on ocean ecosystems has been vastly underestimated.
These are the megafauna, the big predators of the sea, and the species we
most value. Their depletion not only threatens the future of these fish
and the fishers that depend on them, it could also bring about a complete
re-organization of ocean ecosystems, with unknown global consequences.'
(Boris Worm)

Collapsing Fish Stocks - Summary of the Food and Agriculture Organisation
of the UN (FAO) Report

A major international scientific study released in November 2006 in the
journal Science found that about one-third of all fishing stocks worldwide
have collapsed (with a collapse being defined as a decline to less than
10% of their maximum observed abundance), and that if current trends continue
all fish stocks worldwide will collapse within fifty years.

After increasing from around 79 million tonnes in 1998 to 87 million tonnes
in 2000, world marine capture fisheries production decreased to around 84
million tonnes in 2001 and remained at that level in 2002. This decrease
mostly took place in the Southeast Pacific and the Northwest Pacific.

The general trends in the levels of exploitation of world marine stocks
observed in previous years are continuing. In 2003,

* about one-quarter of the stocks monitored were underexploited or moderately
exploited,
* about half of the stocks were fully exploited and close to their maximum
sustainable limits of exploitation, and
* about one-quarter of stocks were overexploited, depleted, or recovering
from depletion, and needed rebuilding.

Importance of Krill - Transporting Carbon to the Ocean Floor

'Satiation gives krill that sinking feeling' - By Geraint
A. Tarling and Magnus L. Johnson - Article published in the journal Current
Biology on 7 February 2006

Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), are shrimp-like crustaceans that are
one of the most important animals in the Southern Ocean. They feed on phytoplankton
and are in turn eaten by a wide range of animals including fish, penguins,
seals and whales. Phytoplankon are the starting point for the marine food
chain and use photosynthesis to extract carbon from carbon dioxide.

Krill live in the open ocean, mainly in large swarms and reach particularly
high numbers in Antarctica. The migrations that they perform (called Diel
Vertical Migrations, DVM) are a way of transporting carbon to the ocean's
interior because they eat phytoplankton at the surface and excrete their
waste at depth.

The krill migrate from the ocean surface by fanning out their swimming
legs and enter a controlled descent, akin to parachuting. The behaviour
is most apparent when their stomachs are full and may be an effective means
of getting out of harms way when they can eat no more.

Dr Geraint Tarling from BAS says, 'We had no idea that krill's tactics
to avoid being eaten could have such added benefits to the environment.
By parachuting down they transport carbon which sinks ultimately to the
ocean floor - an amount equivalent to the annual emissions of 35 million
cars - and this makes these tiny animals much more important than we thought.'

Numbers of Antarctic krill have dropped by about 80% since the
1970's. The most likely explanation is a dramatic decline in winter
sea-ice. Krill feed on the algae found under the surface of the sea-ice,
which acts as a kind of 'nursery'. The Antarctic Peninsula, a key breeding
ground for the krill, has warmed by 2.5°C in the last 50 years, with
a striking decrease in sea-ice. It is not fully understood how the loss
of sea-ice there is connected to the warming, but could be behind the decline
in krill.

Canadian Atlantic Cod Fishery Collapse

In 1992, the devastating collapse of the cod stocks off the east coast
of Newfoundland forced the Canadian government to take drastic measures
and close the fishery. Over 40,000 people lost there jobs.

For the first time in 400 years the fishing of northern cod ceased in Newfoundland.
The fisheries department issued a warning in 1995 that the entire northern
cod population had declined to just 1,700 tonnes by the end of 1994 and
showed no sign of recovery - just 1,700 tonnes remained in a fishery that
had for over a century yielded a 250,000 ton catches, year after year.

Recent Honey Bee Colony Declines - A report for U.S. Congress

This report examines the recent sharp decline in U.S. honey bee colonies,
which
scientists are now calling the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). This phenomenon
first became apparent among commercial migratory beekeepers along the East
Coast
during the last few months of 2006, and has since been reported nationwide.

Honey bees are the most economically valuable pollinators of agricultural
crops
worldwide. Many scientists at universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) assert that bee pollination is involved in about one-third of the
U.S. diet, and
contributes to the production of a wide range of fruits, vegetables, tree
nuts, forage
crops, some field crops, and other specialty crops. The monetary value of
honey bees
as commercial pollinators in the United States is estimated at about $15
billion
annually.

Honey bee colony losses are not uncommon. However, current losses seem
to
differ from past situations in that:
* colony losses are occurring mostly because bees are failing to return
to the hive (which is largely uncharacteristic of bee behavior),
* bee colony losses have been rapid,
* colony losses are occurring in large numbers, and
* the reason why these losses are occurring remains still largely
unknown.

To date, the potential causes of CCD, as reported by the scientists who
are
researching this phenomenon, include but may not be limited to:
* parasites, mites, and disease loads in the bees and brood;
* known/unknown pathogens;
* poor nutrition among adult bees;
* level of stress in adult bees (e.g., transportation and confinement of
bees, or other environmental or biological stressors);
* chemical residue/contamination in the wax, food stores and/or bees;
* lack of genetic diversity and lineage of bees; and
* a combination of several factors.

Dying Rivers due to Climate Change, Pollution & Dams - WWF Report

Rivers on every continent are drying out, threatening severe water shortages,
according to the WWF report, World's Top Rivers at Risk (March, 2007).

Five of the ten rivers listed in the report are in Asia. They are the Yangtze,
Mekong, Salween, Ganges and Indus. Europe’s Danube, the Americas’
La Plata and Rio Grande/Rio Bravo, Africa’s Nile-Lake Victoria and
Australia’s Murray-Darling also make the list.

“All the rivers in the report symbolize the current freshwater crisis,
which we have been signaling for years," says WWF Global Freshwater
Programme Director Jamie Pittock.

"Poor planning and inadequate protection of natural areas mean we
can no longer assume that water will flow forever. ... Conservation of rivers
and wetlands must be seen as part and parcel of national security, health
and economic success. Emphasis must be given to exploring ways of using
water for crops and products that do not use more water than necessary.”

Current State of Climate Studies

Statement of Ralph J. Cicerone, Ph.D. President, National
Academy of Sciences before the U.S. Senate July 21, 2005

The
Earth is warming. Weather station records and ship-based observations indicate
that global mean surface air temperature increased about 0.7 degrees F (0.4
degrees C) since the early 1970’s. Although the magnitude of warming
varies locally, the warming trend is spatially widespread and is consistent
with an array of other evidence (melting glaciers, sea level rise, extended
growing seasons, and changes in the geographical distributions of plant
and animal species). The IPCC has estimated that, by 2100, global surface
temperatures will be from 2.5 to 10.4 degrees F (1.4 to 5.8 degrees C) above
1990 levels.

Fig. 1 Global annual-mean surface air temperature change derived
from the meteorological station network. Data and plots available from the
Goddard Institute for Space Sciences (GISS) at http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/.

The ocean, which represents the largest reservoir of heat in the climate
system, has warmed by about 0.12 degrees F (0.06 degrees C) averaged over
the layer extending from the surface down to 750 feet, since 1993. Recent
studies have shown that the observed heat storage in the oceans is consistent
with expected impacts of a human-enhanced greenhouse effect. Increased ocean
heat content accounts for most of the planetary energy imbalance (i.e.,
when the Earth absorbs more energy from the Sun than it emits back to space)
simulated by climate models with mid-range climate sensitivity.

Laboratory measurements of gases trapped in dated ice cores have shown
that for hundreds of thousands of years, changes in temperature have closely
tracked atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Burning fossil fuel for
energy, industrial processes, and transportation releases carbon dioxide
to the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now at its highest
level in 400,000 years and continues to rise.

Nearly all climate scientists today believe that much of Earth’s
current warming has been caused by increases in the amount of greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere, mostly from the burning of fossil fuels.

It is important to recognize, that while future climate change and its
impacts are inherently uncertain, they are far from unknown. The combined
effects of ice melting and sea water expansion from ocean warming will likely
cause the global average sea-level to rise by between 0.1 and 0.9 meters
between 1990 and 2100. In the Arctic regions, where temperatures have risen
more than the global average, the landscape and ecosystems are being altered
rapidly.

(Current
State of Climate Studies - Statement before the U.S. Senate.)

Biological Diversity and Climate Change

The Convention on Biological Diveristy is an international treaty to sustain
the rich diversity of life on earth. It is committed to achieve by 2010
a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the
global, regional and national level.
This target was endorsed by the World Summit on Sustainable Development
and the United Nations General Assembly and incorporated as a new target
under the Millennium Development Goals.

Climate change is already forcing biodiversity to adapt either through
shifting habitat, changing life cycles, or the development of new physical
traits. Impacts already observed include:

Coral bleaching, caused by increased sea temperatures, is causing die-offs
amongst coral reef communities from Australia to the Caribbean.
The Common Murre has advanced breeding by 24 days per decade over the past
50 years in response to higher temperatures.
The Baltimore oriole is shifting northward and may soon disappear entirely
from the Baltimore area.
Polar bear populations are coming under threat as food becomes harder to
hunt.

Other species will face more unusual challenges. The sex of sea turtle
hatchlings, for example, is temperature dependent with warmer temperatures
increasing the number of female sea turtles at the expense of males.

Those species that are unable to adapt are facing extinction. In fact,
predictions estimate that up to 1 million species may become extinct as
a result of climate change. The recently extinct Golden Toad and Gastric
Brooding Frog have already been labeled as the first victims of climate
change.

Importance of Biodiversity

The links between biodiversity and climate change run both ways: biodiversity
is threatened by human-induced climate change but, biodiversity resources
can reduce the impacts of climate change on people and production:

The conservation of habitats can reduce the amount of CO2 released into
the atmosphere. Currently deforestation is estimated to be responsible for
20% of human-induced CO2 emissions.
Conserving certain species such as mangroves and drought resistant crops
can reduce the disastrous impacts of climate change effects such as flooding
and famine.
The conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity can strengthen ecosystem
resilience, improving the ability of ecosystems to provide critical services
in the face of increasing climatic pressures.

'We are experiencing the greatest wave of extinctions since
the disappearance of the dinosaurs. Extinction rates are rising by a factor
of up to 1,000 above natural rates. Every hour, three species disappear.
Every day, up to 150 species are lost. Every year, between 18,000 and 55,000
species become extinct. The cause: human activities.' (Ahmed Djoghlaf, head
of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity)

The UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) is a collaboration
between the United Nations Environment Programme, the world's foremost intergovernmental
organization, and WCMC 2000, a UK-based charity.

They aim to be an internationally recognised Centre of Excellence for the
synthesis, analysis and dissemination of global biodiversity knowledge,
providing authoritative, strategic and timely information for conventions,
countries, organizations and companies to use in the development and implementation
of their policies and decisions.

Global Climate Change and the Earth's Atmosphere

Understanding how the atmosphere works is fundamental to understanding
climate change. The atmosphere is composed of layers of air, each with its
own temperature patterns. Researchers must determine whether changes in
temperature or air circulation are part of complex, longer-term cycles.
And the interconnections between air, sea, and land mean that any change
could have multiple causes - and multiple effects.

At this Web site, you can explore scientific data relating to the atmosphere,
the oceans, the areas covered by ice and snow, and the living organisms
in all these domains.

The Global Water Cycle
Research from the Global Hydrology and Climate Center (GHCC)

The presence of water as solid, liquid, and gas is a feature that makes
Earth unique in the solar system, and that makes possible life as we know
it. The transport of water and the energy exchanged as it is converted from
one state to another are important drivers in our weather and climate.

One of the key missions of the Global Hydrology and Climate Center (GHCC)
is to develop a better understanding of the global water cycle at a variety
of scales so that we can improve model forecasts of climate trends, predictions
of short-term and regional weather events, and their impacts on society's
regional and global activities.
One major task is the development of consistent descriptions of how changes
in the ocean and land surface temperatures alter the atmospheric winds,
temperatures, and moisture that cause regional droughts or excessive rainfall
on continental scales.

The Global Water Cyclehttp://www.ghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/overview/watercycle.html

The Climate Crisis Coalition (CCC)

'Climate change is no longer the exclusive franchise of environmental
groups; we need to forge new alliances to mobilise a broad and inclusive
constituency around this issue.' (Ross Gelbspan, author of The Heat is on,
Boiling Point)

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)

The Union of Concerned Scientists is a science-based nonprofit organisation
working for a healthy environment and a safer world. UCS combines independent
scientific research and citizen action to develop innovative, practical
solutions and to secure responsible changes in government policy, corporate
practices and consumer choices.
What began as a collaboration between students and faculty members at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969 is now an alliance of more
than 200,000 citizens and scientists.

Al Gore - Global Warming & the Assault on Reason

AlGore.com is the official website of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore
- who is a leading advocate for confronting the threat of global warming.

You can read Gore's online journal, latest climate change news and watch
videos of Al Gore addressing congress. From his new book, The Assault on
Reason;

'In the months following the release of An Inconvenient Truth,
I began to focus on why our democracy has been so slow to deal with the
climate crisis. The unwillingness to solve this problem is not only the
result of a lack of political will, but it has also been caused by the emergence
of a new political environment dangerously hostile to reason, knowledge,
and facts. In the long-term, this poses a threat to the very basis of American
democracy: the ability of a well-informed citizenry to use the rule of reason
to hold government accountable.' (Al Gore)

An Inconvienent Truth: Documentary on Al Gore & Global Warming

An Inconvenient Truth, by director Davis Guggenheim is a documentary about
former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, and his crusade to halt global warming
by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. In the wake of
defeat in the 2000 election, Al Gore has focused on an trying to help save
the planet from irrevocable change.

The website has information about the film, scientific research, a free
companion educational guide, how to take action, news and blogs, reviews,
environmental rss feeds, downloads and trailers.

NOTE: While we respect what Al Gore is trying to do, the climategate scandal
shows that global warming is more a political / financial creation rather
than good science. This is unfortunate as it causes people to dismiss the
whole concept of climate change and the destruction / pollution of Nature.

Co2 Emissions 3x Faster than Worst Predictions

A new study, published by the US National Academy of Sciences, shows that
CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel burning and industrial processes have been
accelerating at a global scale, with their growth rate increasing from 1%
for 1990-1999 to more than 3% for 2000-2004.

This is much faster than even the highest scenario outlined in the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The study found that the growth rate in emissions is strongest in rapidly
developing economies, particularly China. Developed countries, with less
than a sixth of the world's people, still contribute more than two-thirds
of total emissions of the greenhouse gas.

The study also shows the Arctic ice cap is melting three times as fast
- and the seas are rising twice as rapidly - as had been predicted. A study
by the University of California's National Snow and Ice Data Center shows
that Arctic ice has declined by 7.8 per cent a decade over the past 50 years,
compared with an average estimate by IPCC computer models of 2.5 per cent.

Higher Ocean Temperatures - Increased Intensity of Hurricanes

Hurricanes,
typhoons, and cyclones have always bedeviled coasts, but global warming
may be making matters worse. Recent scientific evidence suggests a link
between the destructive power (or intensity) of hurricanes and higher ocean
temperatures, driven in large part by global warming.

Two factors that contribute to more intense tropical cyclones - ocean heat
content and water vapor - have both increased over the past several decades.
This is primarily due to human activities such as the burning of fossil
fuels and the clearing of forests, which have significantly elevated carbon
dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere. CO2 and other heat-trapping gases
act like an insulating blanket that warms the land and ocean and increases
evaporation. (7)

The world’s oceans have absorbed about 20 times as much heat as the
atmosphere over the past half-century, leading to higher temperatures not
only in surface waters (e.g., depths of less than 100 feet) but also down
to substantial depths, with the most severe warming occurring in the first
1,500 feet below the surface. As this warming occurs, the oceans expand
and raise sea level. This expansion, combined with the inflow of water from
melting land ice, has raised global sea level more than one inch over the
last decade. In addition, observations of atmospheric humidity over the
oceans show that water vapor content has increased four percent since 1970;
because warm air holds more water vapor than cold air, these findings correlate
with an increase in air temperature.

Hurricanes and Climate Change

A 2005 study, by Kerry Emanuel (Prof. MIT), published in the journal Nature
examined the duration and maximum wind speeds of each tropical cyclone that
formed over the last 30 years and found that their destructive power has
increased around 70% in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

EMANUEL: I looked at the record of hurricanes in the Atlantic and the western
part of the North Pacific, and I looked at a measure of the production of
energy by hurricanes over their entire life. When you look at this measure
of energy consumption it's gone up by about 70 or 80% since the 1970s. It's
a really big increase. It was startling.

This particular measure of energy consumption is very closely tied to sea
surface temperature. We predicted that you should see about a 10% increase
in wind speed for every two degree sea change. That theoretical prediction
has been backed up since then by lots of modeling that has been done elsewhere
by other groups.
So we expected to see a 9% increase in wind speed and we actually got 80%.
So the prediction was way off. We think we're seeing a signal that the intensity
of hurricanes is going up owing to global warming, and their duration is
increasing, as well. And this has us worried.

Hurricane Damages Soar to New Levels

Insurance Companies Abandoning Homeowners in High-Risk
Coastal Areas

Damage from hurricanes is soaring off the charts, bankrupting insurance
companies and depriving property owners of insurance in high-risk areas.
During the 1960s, worldwide damage from windstorms with economic losses
of $1 billion or more totaled just $4 billion. In the 1970s the figure rose
to $7 billion, and in the 1980s it topped $24 billion. Next came the 1990s,
when hurricane losses soared to $113 billion. Then during the six years
from 2000 to 2005, hurricanes left a staggering bill of $273 billion.

Two trends are largely responsible for the growing costs of windstorm disasters.
One, rapid coastal development is bringing more people and more expensive
infrastructure into vulnerable areas. And two, hurricanes are growing stronger
and lasting longer, fuelled by higher sea surface temperatures. They are
also widening their geographic range, invading areas previously considered
safe from the wrath of windstorms.

Environmental Health News

A collection of environmental and health news stories, scientific articles
and reports by organizations working to protect human health from environmental
exposures.

'In 2004 alone, U.S. industrial facilities released 1.5 billion
pounds of toxic pollutants linked to serious health effects, threatening
hundreds of communities across the country. In one year these facilities
released more than 70 million pounds of known carcinogens and 826 million
pounds of neurotoxins to the air and water.'

'Researchers comparing pollution levels between urban and
rural Thai schoolboys found that those attending school in Bangkok had more
chemicals in the bodies and more damage to key cell systems than their country-dwelling
counterparts. The boys attending schools in the highly populated, traffic-congested
city had higher levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) breakdown
products in their urine, more DNA damage and less ability to repair the
DNA than rural dwellers. Air samples revealed PAH levels 30 times higher
in front of urban schools.' (3rd June, 2007)

'It is important that the 2007 G8 Summit is addressing the linked issues
of energy security and climate change.

Our present energy course is not sustainable. World population is forecast
to reach 9 billion by 2050, with the most rapid growth in the poorest countries.
Escalating
pressures on land will accelerate deforestation. Major increases in demand
for energy are inevitable as economies around the world accelerate and peoples
justifiably seek to improve their living standards. Responding to this demand
while minimising further
climate change will need all the determination and ingenuity we can muster.

Major investments and successful technological and institutional innovation
will be needed to achieve better energy efficiency, low or zero carbon energy
sources
and carbon-removing schemes. It will be necessary to develop and deploy
new sources and systems for energy supply, including clean use of coal,
carbon capture and storage,
unconventional fossil fuel resources, advanced nuclear systems, advanced
renewable energy systems (including solar, wind, biomass and geothermal
energy), smart grids
and energy storage technologies.

The common strategic priorities should concentrate on the following points:

Sustainable buildings - Around 27 % of final energy is consumed by private
households, and much could be done with existing renewable energy technologies
to improve the energy performance of buildings.

Efficient transport and alternative fuels - There are around 600 million
motor vehicles across the globe. This figure may double by 2020. Here in
particular lies a large
package of possible measures, like innovative engine concepts with energy
efficiency standards, alternative fuels and integrated transport systems.

Modern power technology Fossil fuels will continue to dominate electricity
production over the next two decades. The best coal-fired power stations
now achieve efficiencies
substantially better than the average. Modernisation of old power plants
could help to save energy and to reduce carbon emissions.

Electrical appliances are proliferating rapidly. New appliances on the
market should be brought in line with the state of the art.

Energy consumption is strongly influenced by human behaviour. It is important
to create the conditions and opportunities for energy consumers to use energy
more efficiently.'

The Alliance for Climate Protection

'Our mission is to persuade the American people - and people elsewhere
in the world - of the importance and urgency of adopting and implementing
effective and comprehensive solutions for the climate crisis.

An
international group of scientists is calling for an immediate effort to
stop the growth of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade
and to reduce current emissions by two-thirds by the end of the century.
Based on per capita emissions, this means that U.S. reductions of 60-90%
must happen even sooner, by 2050. These reductions require a comprehensive
but achievable transformation of energy, transportation, building, industrial
and agricultural sectors.

This economy-wide challenge requires actions by individuals and corporations
- and enactment of meaningful new policies by governments. In particular,
governments need to adopt policies that stimulate dispersion and deployment
of greenhouse-reducing processes and technologies - from next generation
vehicles to greater efficiency in buildings and industry; from renewable
electricity to biofuels; and from power plant carbon capture and storage
to low-emission agricultural processes.
In homes and workplaces, on farms and in factories, and at construction
sites everywhere, people and businesses must be able to access the best
resources for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Policies that improve accessibility
of climate solutions will also stimulate creation of hundreds of thousands
of new jobs across the U.S. and the globe.'

Live Earth SOS (Save our Selves) - Global 24hr Music Concert (7-7-07)

Live Earth, 2007 will use the global reach of music to engage people on
a mass scale to combat our climate crisis, bringing together more than 150
of the world's top musicians and 2 billion people for 24 hours of music
from 9 concerts across all 7 continents.

The mission of the SOS campaign is to empower individuals to change their
consumer behaviors and motivate corporations and political leaders to enact
decisive measures to combat the climate crisis.

Global Warming: A Divide on Causes and Solutions
American Public Views Unchanged by Unusual Weather

Released: January 24, 2007

President Bush's mention in his State of the Union Message of the "serious
challenge of global climate change" was directed at an American public
many of whom remain lukewarm about the importance of the issue.
The unusual weather affecting the nation this winter may have reinforced
the widely held view that the phenomenon of rising temperatures is real
(77% of Americans believe that), but the public continues to be deeply divided
over both its cause and what to do about it (only 47% say that human activity,
such as the burning of fossil fuels, is mostly to blame for the earth getting
warmer).

Moreover, there are indications that most Americans do not regard global
warming as a top-tier issue. In Pew's annual list of policy priorities for
the president and Congress, global warming ranked fourth-lowest of 23 items
tested.

Cyclical Variations in the Earth's Orbit

The Milankovitch theory suggests that normal cyclical variations in three
of the Earth's orbital characteristics is probably responsible for some
past climatic change.

The first cyclical variation, known as eccentricity, controls the shape
of the Earth's orbit around the sun. The orbit gradually changes from being
elliptical to being nearly circular and then back to elliptical in a period
of about 100,000 years. The greater the eccentricity of the orbit (i.e.,
the more elliptical it is), the greater the variation in solar energy received
at the top of the atmosphere between the Earth's closest (perihelion) and
farthest (aphelion) approach to the sun. Currently, the Earth is experiencing
a period of low eccentricity. The difference in the Earth's distance from
the sun is responsible for approximately a 7% variation in the amount of
solar energy received at the top of the atmosphere.

The second cyclical variation results from the fact that as the Earth rotates
on its polar axis, it wobbles like a spinning top changing the orbital timing
of the equinoxes and solstices. This effect is known as the precession of
the equinox. The precession of the equinox has a cycle of approximately
26,000 years. The Earth is closer to the sun in January (perihelion) and
farther away in July (aphelion) at the present time.

The third cyclical variation is related to the changes in the tilt (obliquity)
of the Earth's axis of rotation over a 41,000 year period. During the 41,000
year cycle the tilt can deviate from approximately 22.5 to 24.5°. At
the present time, the tilt of the Earth's axis is 23.5°. When the tilt
is small there is less climatic variation between the summer and winter
seasons in the middle and high latitudes. Warmer winters allow for more
snow to fall in the high-latitude regions. When the atmosphere is warmer
it has a greater ability to hold water vapor and therefore more snow is
produced at areas of frontal or orographic uplift. Cooler summers cause
snow and ice to accumulate on the Earth's surface because less of this frozen
water is melted. Thus, the net effect of a smaller tilt would be more extensive
formation of glaciers in the polar latitudes.

The Ocean and Carbon Dioxide (Exchange of Gases)

Measurements indicated that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were about
30% lower during colder glacial periods. It was also theorized that the
oceans were a major store of carbon dioxide and that they controlled the
movement of this gas to and from the atmosphere. The amount of carbon dioxide
that can be held in oceans is a function of temperature. Carbon dioxide
is released from the oceans when global temperatures become warmer and diffuses
into the ocean when temperatures are cooler.

Variations in Solar Output

Until recently, many scientists thought that the sun's output of radiation
only varied by a fraction of a percent over many years. However, measurements
made by satellites equipped with radiometers in the 1980s and 1990s suggested
that the sun's energy output may be more variable than was once thought.
Measurements made during the early 1980s showed a decrease of 0.1% in the
total amount of solar energy reaching the Earth over just an 18 month time
period. If this trend were to extend over several decades, it could influence
global climate. Numerical climatic models predict that a change in solar
output of only 1 % per century would alter the Earth's average temperature
by between 0.5 to 1.0° Celsius.

Some atmospheric scientists recently demonstrated a new spin on the ozone
recovery story that may change its ending. Well before the expected stratospheric
ozone layer recovery date of 2050, ozone’s effects on climate may
become the main driver of ozone loss in the stratosphere.

Ozone’s impact on climate consists primarily of changes in temperature.
The more ozone in a given parcel of air, the more heat it retains. Ozone
generates heat in the stratosphere, both by absorbing the sun’s ultraviolet
radiation and by absorbing upwelling infrared radiation from the lower atmosphere
(troposphere). Consequently, decreased ozone in the stratosphere results
in lower temperatures. Observations show that over recent decades, the mid
to upper stratosphere (from 30 to 50 km above the Earth’s surface)
has cooled by 1° to 6° C (2° to 11° F). This stratospheric
cooling has taken place at the same time that greenhouse gas amounts in
the lower atmosphere (troposphere) have risen. The two phenomena may be
linked.
This would create a possible feedback loop. The more ozone destruction in
the stratosphere, the colder it would get just because there was less ozone.
And the colder it would get, the more ozone depletion would occur.

The deepest ozone losses over both the Arctic and the Antarctic result
from conditions that occur in the winter and early spring. As winter arrives,
a vortex of winds develops around the pole and isolates the polar stratosphere.
When temperatures drop below -78°C (-109°F), thin clouds form of
ice, nitric acid, and sulphuric acid mixtures. Chemical reactions on the
surfaces of ice crystals in the clouds release active forms of CFCs. Ozone
depletion begins, and the ozone “hole” appears. In spring, temperatures
begin to rise, the ice evaporates, and the ozone layer starts to recover.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by
the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) in 1998. Its role is to assess scientific, technical and
socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change,
its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.
It is currently finalizing its Fourth Assessment Report "Climate Change
2007", also referred to as AR4.

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have grown since pre-industrial
times, with an increase of 70% between 1970 and 2004. (Working Group III
'Mitigation of Climate Change', 2007)

Global Warming & Energy from the Sun

The IPCC report estimates that the 1990s were the warmest years since the
beginning of instrumental records in 1861 and that 1998 may have been the
warmest year on record. This increase in temperature over the last century
is likely to have been the largest 100-year increase in the last 1000 years.

Solar energy and the Earth's atmosphere

At the top of Earth's atmosphere the total irradiance from the sun is about
1366 W/m². Imagine thirteen 100 Watt light bulbs shined all of their
energy onto a square meter. During the course of an 11-year solar cycle,
the average output of the sun changes by about 1-2 W/m² or about 0.1%.
Thus, the solar constant varies between 1365 and 1367 W/m² and is therefore,
not really a constant.

In
other wavelengths such as the ultraviolet and extreme ultraviolet parts
of the solar spectrum, the solar variability can be quite large.
In the x-ray wavelengths, the sun can change brightness by a factor of 100
or even 1000 in just a few minutes but these wavelengths only affect the
upper reaches of our atmosphere.

Figure 2 - A dramatic example of how the sun changes over the
11-year solar cycle. This composite figure (prepared by Lockheed) shows
a sequence of solar x-ray images taken with the Yohkoh satellite about six
months apart from solar maximum (lower left) to solar minimum (upper right).

It is thought that the total solar output of the sun has changed by larger
amounts over longer time scales. There is evidence that the total solar
output may have been as low as 1360 W/m² during the 19th century and
even lower than that during the 17th century. Thus over centennial time
scales, the solar output may have changed by 0.5%.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/index.php - A community of global citizens who
take action on the major issues facing the world today. The aim of Avaaz.org
is to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape
global decisions. Avaaz.org members act for a more just and peaceful world
and a globalisation with a human face.

"When
forced to summarize the general theory of relativity in one sentence:
Time and space and gravitation have no separate existence from matter.
... Physical objects are not in space, but these objects are spatially
extended. In this way the concept 'empty space' loses its meaning.
... The particle can only appear as a limited region in space in which
the field strength or the energy density are particularly high. ...
The free, unhampered exchange of ideas and scientific conclusions
is necessary for the sound development of science, as it is in all spheres
of cultural life. ... We must not conceal from ourselves that
no improvement in the present depressing situation is possible without
a severe struggle; for the handful of those who are really determined
to do something is minute in comparison with the mass of the lukewarm
and the misguided. ...Humanity is going to need a substantially new way of thinking
if it is to survive!" (Albert Einstein)

This is the profound new way of thinking that Einstein
realised, that we exist as spatially extended structures of the universe
- the discrete and separate body an illusion. This simply confirms the
intuitions of the ancient
philosophers and mystics.

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